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A nighttime rendering of the "3-Dual Tower Cable Supported Viaduct" design was presented in April as a possible replacement for the 6th Street Bridge.

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — On Thursday morning the city's Cultural Heritage Commission will hear a presentation of the project to replace the crumbling but historic 6th Street Viaduct.

After hearing from Bureau of Engineering staff and project consultants, the body will hear public comments and then finalize its comment letter on the project.

The commission weighs in on the project because the bridge is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument 905, but it was only given that designation in January of 2008, a year after the first meetings on a potential replacement took place.

The 6th Street bridge is one of a dozen historic structures to cross the Los Angeles river as it passes through Downtown, suffers from a condition called Alkali Silica Reaction (ASR). Described as "cancer," ASR combines with moisture to crumble concrete from the inside.

As part of the current project, the City has commissioned a wide range of experts to assess whether the current bridge could be saved, but reports continue to say that retrofit options would only slow the damage and would destroy much of the look of the structure.